Comparing Salmonella prevalence on farms

A recent US study has evaluated the distribution of
the Salmonella pathogen across a variety of farm types and regions, in order to
generate data to enable comparisons between farms.

Of the farms sampled, the majority of positive Salmonella findings were
isolated from swine farms (57.3%). The occurrence of Salmonella was lower on
dairy farms (17.9%), poultry farms (16.2%), and beef cattle farms (8.5%).

The results of this study suggest that reservoirs of Salmonella populations
still exist in animal production facilities. Data showed that the surrounding
farm environment could be an important source of contamination.

In the study, farm samples were collected quarterly from 18 different farms
across five states (Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, California, and
Washington) over a 24-month period.

The samples were analysed for the presence of Salmonella by means of the US Food and Drug
Administration's Bacteriological Analytical Manual methods optimised for
farm samples.

Salmonella isolates were characterised by automated riboprinting.
Salmonella serovars were recovered from 4.7% of all samples. The most commonly
isolated serovar was Salmonella Anatum (48.4%), which was isolated notably more
frequently than the next most common Salmonella serovars, Arizonae (12.1%) and
Javiana (8.8%).